The Urban Image of Augustan Rome

364 Pages·2008·59.367 MB·English

by  Diane Favro

THE URBAN IMAGE OF
AUGUSTAN ROM
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THE URBAN IMAGE OF AUGUSTAN ROME
The Urban Image of Augustan Rome examines the idea and experience of the ancient
city at a critical moment, when Rome became an Imperial capital. Lacking dignity,
unity, and a clear image during the Republic, the urban image of Rome became focused
only when the state came under the control of Augustus, the first emperor, who trans
formed the city physically and conceptually. Intervening in an ad hoc manner, he
repaired existing public structures, added numerous new monuments, established
municipal offices for urban care, and promoted an enduring aesthetic. Directed by a
single vision, the cumulative results were forceful and unified. This book explores for
the first time the motives for urban intervention, methods for implementation, and the
sociopolitical context of the Augustan period, as well as broader design issues such as
formal urban strategies and definitions of urban imagery.
The Urban Image
of Augustan Rome
DIANE FAVRO
University of California, Los Angeles
Щ CAMBRIDGE
Щ0 UNIVERSITY PRESS
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
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Cambridge University Press
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© Cambridge University Press 1996
This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception
and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements,
no reproduction of any part may take place without the written
permission of Cambridge University Press.
First published 1996
Reprinted 2007, 2008
A catalog record for this publication is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication data
Favro, Diane G
The urban image of Augustan Rome / Diane Favro.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-521-45083-7 (he)
1. Rome (Italy) - Buildings, structures, etc. 2. City planning - Italy - Rome - History.
3. Architecture, Roman - Italy - Rome. 4. Augustus, emperor of Rome, 63 B.C.-14 A.D.-
Contributions in city planning. 5. Rome (Italy) - History - To 476. I. Title.
DG69.F38 1996
937'.06-dc20 96-5565
CIP
ISBN 978-0-521-45083-6 Hardback
ISBN 978-0-521-64665-9 Paperback
Transferred to digital printing 2010
Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or
accuracy of URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to in
this publication, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is,
or will remain, accurate or appropriate. Information regarding prices, travel
timetables and other factual information given in this work are correct at
the time of first printing but Cambridge University Press does not guarantee
the accuracy of such information thereafter.
To my parents
Because I know that time is always time
And place is always and only place
And what is actual is actual only for one time
And only for one place.
T. S. Eliot, Ash Wednesday
CONTENTS
Illustrations xi
Tables xvii
Preface xix
INTRODUCTION: DEFINING AN URBAN IMAGE 1
The Roman Urban Image 4
Historiography 11
Evaluating the Augustan Urban Image 19
A WALK THROUGH REPUBLICAN ROME, 52 B.C. 24
CONTEXT: THE REPUBLICAN URBAN IMAGE 42
The Urban Image of Late Republican Rome 45
Context for Change 50
Julius Caesar and Rome 60
IDENTITY: EVOLVING AUGUSTAN MOTIVES 79
Phase I, 44-29 B.C.: A City of Fragments 80
Phase II, 29-17 B.C.: Rome Reborn 103
Phase III, 17 B.C.-A.D. 14: Consolidation 120
Evaluation 140
STRUCTURE: BUILDING AN URBAN IMAGE 143
Urban Components and Characteristics 144
IX
x CONTENTS
Orchestration
Evaluation
6. MEANING: READING THE AUGUSTAN CITY
Physical Unity
Programmatic Unity
Experiential Legibility
Unifying Involvement
Legacy
7. A WALK THROUGH AUGUSTAN ROME, A.D. 14
Notes
Abbreviations
Bibliography
Index 341
ILLUSTRATIONS
All diagrams are by Richard H. Abramson.
1. Model of Augustan Rome. 3
2. Imperial relief showing a walled Roman city, Palazzo
Torlonia, Avezzano. 5
3. Diagram, movement through a Roman house of memory. 6
4. Diagram, urban locations of imagines. 6
5. Diagram of codependency. 7
6. Diagram, time lines. 21
7. Diagram, five physical elements of urban image
as defined by Lynch. 12
8. Axonometric drawing of Horton Plaza shopping
center, San Diego, Jerde Associates, 1986. 14
9. Fictional serial sketches of urban experience from
George Cullen, The Concise Townscape. 16
10. Reconstruction of a Roman city street. 16
11. Diagram, viewing angle in a Roman dining room. 16
12. Three-dimensional representation of Palmyra's
urban armature. 17
13. Axonometric drawing of the Forum Romanum in the
second century B.C. 17
14. Illustration for Vitruvius' story of the city on Mount
Athos designed by Dinocrates to impress
Alexander the Great. 20
15. Colossal head of Augustus with Baroque restoration
of the hair (H. ca. 1.20 m), Cortile della Pigna, Vatican. 21
16. Diagram, subperiods. 21
17. Diagram, temple and view angle. 21
xii ILUSTRATIONS
18. Hypothetical reconstruction of the rotating theaters
of Gaius Curio. 26
19. Map of Rome in 52 B.C. 26
20. Diagram, walk 1. 27
21. Plan of Capitoline Hill in the late first century B.C. 27
22. Coin of M. Volteius, 78 B.C., showing the Temple of Jupiter
Optimus Maximus. 28
23. Marble relief showing the Temple of Juno Moneta with
geese; second century A.D. 29
24. A wall painting depicting the life of Rhea Silvia, mother of
Romulus and Remus. The story unfolds before the
northwestern corner of the Capitoline Hill, with the
Temple of Victoria on the upper right, the she-wolf and
twins in the Lupercal at right center, and the personified
Tiber River at the bottom. From the
House of M. Fabius Secundus, Pompeii. 31
25. A view westward from the Forum Romanum
up the Clivus Capitolinus. 34
26. Internal stairs of the Tabularium connecting the
Forum Romanum with the Capitoline Hill. 35
27. Exterior of the Tabularium. 35
28. Reconstruction of a street in Rome. 46
29. Diagram, three thumbnail maps showing the growth of Rome. 48
30. Helmeted Roma on a South Italian coin from the early
second century B.C. (left); Alexandria with turreted crown
(Tyche) on a coin of the first-century B.C. 49
31. Scale comparison of plans for the temples of Apollo at
Didyma (top) and Jupiter Optimus Maximus at Rome. 52
32. Model of ancient Pergamon. 52
33. Fragments of the Severan map, the Forma Urbis Romae,
showing the Theater of Pompey. 58
34. Coin of C. Vibius Pansa, ca. 48 B.C., showing Roma
seated on a pile of shields, holding a scepter, with her
left foot on the globe. She is being crowned by Victoria,
barely visible in the background. 64
35. Relief found on the Via Cassia near Rome showing
Caesar (?) crowned by Victoria with a trophy and
prisoners to the right and a globe and Oikoumene or
Roma kneeling to the right. A wall under construction
is shown at either end. 65
36. Plan of the Forum Romanum ca. 42 B.C. 70